Yul Brynner

In January 1985, while dying of lung cancer, he insisted on filming a television commercial, advising everyone, "Now that I'm gone, I tell you don't smoke . . . " The commercial had a profound effect on viewing audiences, since it was released after his death. His decision to share what killed him gained him a whole new generation of fans who respected and admired him for this unforgettable gesture.
He was an accomplished photographer. He took many photos on the sets of the various projects he worked on over the years.
Jack Kirby used his physical likeness (noticeably his bald head and intense stare) as the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of Prof. Charles Xavier in the ''X-Men'' comics (created in 1963). He was 43 years old at that point.
When he found out he would be playing Pharaoh Rameses II opposite Charlton Heston's Moses in Les Dix Commandements (1956) and that he would be shirtless for most of the film, he began a rigorous weightlifting program because he did not want to be physically overshadowed by Heston (which explains his buffer than normal physique during Le roi et moi (1956), another film he was set to work on at the time).
Was acting in an adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' (his Broadway debut), when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. That night's show was canceled and most of the crew enlisted soon after. The show lasted only 15 performances and Brynner was out of a job until 1943.

People don't know my real self, and they're not about to find out.
[to interviewers] Just call me a nice, clean-cut Mongolian boy.
Girls have an unfair advantage over boys: If they can't get what they want by being smart, they can get it by being dumb.
[recorded in January 1985, after he was diagnosed with lung cancer] Now that I'm gone, I tell you: Don't smoke, whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that.
I'm not of the can-kicking, shovel-carrying, ear-scratching, torn T-shirt school of acting. There are very few real men in the movies these days. Yet being a real man is the most important quality an actor can offer on the screen.